Leading graphic historical novelist Joe Sacco will chronicle how and why he uses the graphic novel format to catalyze social justice and human rights struggles in the US and around the world. His award-winning novels include Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (a portrait of some of the most marginalized communities in the United States, co-created with Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges); Footnotes in Gaza (a narrative of oral histories collected from elderly Palestinians who witnessed and survived a mass murder during the 1956 Suez War); and Safe Area Goražde (a graphic depiction of a besieged enclave during the Bosnian war). Joe Sacco has received many awards for his pioneering work, including the 1996 American Book Award, a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2001 Eisner Award, the 2010 Ridenhour Book Prize, and the 2012 Oregon Book Award.

Co-presentation with the University of Michigan International Institute’s Conflict and Peace Initiative, with additional support from Department of Near Eastern Studies, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Art, Architecture, and Engineering Library, Global Scholars Program, Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, Community Action Social Change (CASC), Arab and Muslim American Studies (AMAS), Department of English Language and Literature, Department of Sociology, Department of Political Science, Department of Anthropology, Helen Zell Writers’ Program, Donia Human Rights Center, Center for World Performance Studies, Program in International and Comparative Studies, Islamic Studies Program, Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives (OAMI), Center for Global and Intercultural Study, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Center for International & Comparative Law, Comparative Literature, Judaic Studies, Transnational Comics Workshop, and the Prison Creative Arts Project.